Mideast Dispatches

One of the most important people in my life is an Iraqi refugee. He once was a working member of society in Syria, Damascus at a local press. Because of the constraints put upon them to leave to another country or face deportation to Iraq, he fled to Turkey. After spending two months there, he and his brother did they best they could to survive. Funds ran low, and his brother, unfortunately was scammed by some people offering a new Visa to Greece for over 5 thousand US Dollars. Of course, after two weeks, they were kicked back out and sent back to Turkey. His brother now is in Baghdad again living in terror. My friend, found himself in now Sivas, because the UNHCR told him he had to pick out of four places to flee. Sivas is now where he is. No money, no work, the UNHCR is offering no help, and they actually took his passport today. He has to go EVERY DAY to sign in, walking the ice cold streets in single digit temps. What are they supposed to do?? How can they live? Its ridiculous to me that people are being treated like this! They are all not terrorists for petes sake! Mine is an artist with a Bachelors of fine Arts, and knowledge of press work. Something has to be done. These folks are being made to live like the homeless, and expected to keep their dignity. Something has to be done. This is not right. How can the UNHCR get away with this? They should be able to go wherever they wish!

Con artists exist every where. I, as a Canadian, cannot be responsible for other Canadian scum bags who try to swindle other fellow Canadians - especially the vulnerable. Every day I read stories in the news paper about old people who lost thousands of dollars, their life savings and sometime their homes in a mortgage scam to unsavery characters. In the story about Iraqi refugees, their exist an underlying responsibility that the U.S. has deflected into other people and nations. The United States brought this mess to Iraq, and they bare full responsibilty for reparing the damage, whether by withdrawing from Iraq, investing in re-construction or protecting the Iraqi refugees and ultimately securing their return to their homes. No amount of surge will do any good for this suffering nation.

I note that the respondants that critized Mr. Wilson did not reply to the substance of his letter, so they must have reponded to his tone. That is unfortunate because he is suggesting that there are cautionary factors that we should take into consideration.
Someone asked how he would fare in the same situation as Mustapha and I think the answer is that he would do better than most, judging by the substance of his questions. People who wear their hearts on their sleeves would experience the worst. Also, it does appear he has read Al Jazeera, just not as faithfully as some.
I wish Canadians would get as worked up about our own issues such as the growing inequities in access to food, shelter and income for many people in our own regions. We could feel more qualified to speak on problems in other countries if we were on the road to solving our own.

I have looked through dossiers of United Nations High Commision Refugees and found all of them to be worthy of a life as free and open to opportunities taken for granted by those who have been fortunate enough to have chosen parents in what George W. calls a "civilized nation."

As someone who has worked with a national development agency that sponsors assists universities in finding UNHCR regfugees to study at their universities, I know more of the intricacies of the process of attaining UNHCR status than most of the posters in this forum. It isn't as easy as filling in a form with your name and previous address.

The UNHCR process is diligent in assessing that the refugees are due to war/political reason (and other's as designated). This prevents their system from being corrupted with those "would be refugees" who are "ECONOMIC REFUGEES," those who claim refugee status merely to relocate for the opportunity to increase their income, not due to persecution or threat of death.

UNHCR refugees must also receive clearance from Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), after their background information has been investigated and cleared. As of the late 1990's, CSIS had ONE (1) CSIS Officer working to do clearances for ALL of AFRICA and EASTERN ASIA.
If we are not going to stop the multi-lateral doctrine of Pre-emptive Strikes, we must take full responsibility for their outcome.

If not, how dare we call ourselves humanitarians?

Waif

As those in the United States, Australia, Britain and all the other countries in the "COALITION OF THE WILLING" willingly invaded a sovereign nation, they have an inherent OBLIGATION to provide food, shelter and security of person while they are refugees due to the conflicts these, or other countries, have created for geo-political gains.

I find it interesting that some people are blaming the Arabs for the plight of the Iraqi refugees. It should be remembered that there weren't 4.5 million Iraqi refugees before the Americans anihalated that country.

Why should the Americans have carte balnche to destroy a country and then let everybody else pick up the pieces? Nobody except the Americans is responsible for what happens to the refugees.

I don't think Canada should take any Iraqi refugees. Seventy years ago, we didn't take any Jewish refugees from the Nazi holocaust so now we shouldn't take any Iraqi refugees from the American attack on Iraq. Fair is fair.

This is a second comment in reply to Sheila. Feel free to merge it with my reply to Jeff.

I find the accusation that it is "obvious Muslims in Iraq cannot get along with each other" false. Before the Iraqi war, Muslims lived together in neighborhoods with relative calm and peace.

Canada, and especially the United States have a moral obligation to let in as many immigrants as possible. The United States especially, since it allows the smallest amount of Iraqis but has caused this mess in the first place. Accusing Ms. Ayed of writing a "fantasy novel for the gullable" is rather underhanded.

As much as Sheila wishes it, this is not the 1960's, and it is certainly not an era where Canada should be turning away refugees from crisis, such as during the Second World War when the United States accepted a paltry amount of refugees. Perhaps Sheila is the one living in a fantasy world.

According to Mr. Jeff Wilson, Ms. Ayed is not "trying" and "Arabs treat their fellow Arabs badly because they can get away with it." Well Mr. Jeff Wilson, I wonder what you would do in a situation like this, if you were Ayed? It is far more likely that "Arabs treat their fellow Arabs badly" because that is human nature -- for the wolves to take advantage when there is a humanitarian disaster. Did you forget the scam artists who took advantage during Hurricane Katrina?

Mr. Wilson touches on an issue, that not enough Arabs speak out against other Arabs. Well, perhaps Mr. Wilson will be bold enough to speak out against Muslims when there's a cleric ready to issue a fatwah on his head. It's not that moderate Muslims do not want to speak out -- it's that often, their homes, families and relationships are threatened if they do, to the point of death. I would not be surprised if Ms. Ayed has received death threats.

So before you condemn moderates for "not trying" maybe you should ask yourself if it is reasonable to expect a person to speak out given the possible consequences. Besides, there are plenty of Muslims who do speak out -- and it usually accomplishes very little, because the media does not dictate or influence government policy, especially in those countries.

Mr. Wilson also seems to suggest that there is too much news coverage of Western atrocities on Muslims. That is rather silly. A foreign national taking advantage of citizens is international news, so I would fully expect Canadians taking advantage of Muslims to generate an uproar, if it ever happened.

Nahlah, your story is most certainly journalism at its finest and I encourage you to continue offering CBC readers stories from the hearts of peoples caught up in the wars of others.

I find some of the criticism of your article simply off the wall and insulting to anyone with an appreciation of what happens away from the front lines in a war.

Sheila, I don't know where you immigrated from as a refugee, but I find it difficult that conditions could have been much worse then what many Iraqis face today.

But more telling is your desire to slam our doors shut on these people, especially in light of your own non-conditional welcome to Canada.

We have room for more refugees regardless of their religious beliefs, colour of their skin or other biases that some here may harbour but won't utter.

Jeff Wilson, I can only assume from your reply that you have never read Al Jazeera.

I read it on a regular basis because it is one of the best and quickest sources of information anywhere on the Mideast. I also know that on any given day there are articles about clashes between Shites and Sunni Muslims.

I'd urge you to pull you head out of the sands of ignorance and actually read Al Jazeera once in a while.

By the way, if you want to meet a few Canadians who'll pick you clean before you can say hello, I can arrange it.

Suggesting that Arabs are any different than others around the world in abusing their own people tells me you know little about the human species.

Dear Nahlah, thank you for your stories. We need to be reminded that there is a war going on there, and people are suffering because this conflict is slowly turning into Darfur, Palestine and many other countries that were left aside for a brand new conflict.
A quick note to Ms Sheila from Scarborough: Every war is ugly and cruel no matter where it happens. Unfortunately seems like me and you had to go through it before Iraqis but just because we are safe in Canada now, we should not say that Iraq should endure the war (for whatever reason) and Canada should not help. Someone helped me and you when we were refugees, now we owe it to Canada to keep high her humanitarian and peaceful role around the world.

Sheila i really do not digest what you have written. There are fundamental causes for all these chaos and misery that is happening in the Muslim world and diasporas. We need to reconcile and look for the actors that have planted the deep rooted enmity in the Muslim world. The West yes, the West is responsible for the most part, empowering some while disempowering the others over one and other.

Iraq needs to be divided into three parts, a federal country with a decentralized government. There is no way that Sunnis, Shias and the Kurds can live happily if a practical federal state is not created.

I feel so very bad to see what Americans, British and Australians and others did over in Iraq and Afghanistan. It had nothing to do with Saddam and these dictators but all to do with oil and the war machine that brings in money - they sell arms to both sides hoping that they all kill one another. Wake up everyone in the Middle East. Know your enemy and learn to get along. You should not fight among yourselves but stand up together and be strong. Immigrants have made our countries what they are and it is thanks to them for what we have. Learn about what is the New World Order from GW Bush, father Bush as well as the global elite. This is the cancer we are all facing. This includes Canadians as well look for the books in your libraries and learn something about what is going on. You will all be mighty shocked.

Ms. Ayad all the very best to you. Take good care of yourself. Your heart must be very heavy seeing what you are seeing. I know that mine sure is. Thank you for telling us the stories.
We have family in Lebanon and we worry constantly over them all. I wish that they were not over there.

Dear Ms. Ayad
Your article was so heart wrenching in this Holiday Season. I cannot understand why with all the bad that is happening in Iraq that a fellow Arab has to take advantage of the most vulnerable sector of society. Keep up the good work we need conscientious journalists like yourself to open our eyes.

As for the comments from Sheila: please do not make judgments on a race or country that you obviously do not know anything about. Just of the record every family in Iraq has intermarried and gotten along for years. Sunni and Shites, Sunni and Catholic, Shite and Kurd every family has a mixed marriage in it and got along just fine. They are after all, ALL Iraqis. So the comments stating that we do not get along has been for a good part of it brought on by the occupation and their goal to divide the country.

Sheila, try understanding an issue before commenting on it. Your words make you look paranoid and ridiculous
I've met people like Mustapha. honest, hard-working people who want to make a contribution and believe there is still good in this world. Our government should be helping these people if they want to come to our country and make it a better place, not commit crimes and leech off the system. Nahlah hit it on the head, refugees fleeing conflicts have very few options open to them, so they are left to either go back to the danger zones, or stay in their sanctuary countries to squeeze out a living doing menial jobs or relying on family and charity. I'm with Oliver, Canada and other countries should be doing more to accept and help these people.

Dear Ms. Ayad,

As an Iraqi-Canadian who once was a refugee in Syria, I understand what thousands of iraqi refugees in Syria are facing. As a matter of a fact, my own cousins are in Syria right now and we are trying to get them to Canada but our options are limited.

I can't imagine what my life would be right now not being with my family and not seeing them for two or three years.

I guess we were lucky to have my grandparents who sponsored my family and I in early 1990's. But, what about the other millions of iraqi's out there, if they are less fortunate than others what will become of them?

I tottally agree with jeff wilson point of view for this story.
its sad to hear that this is happening and i do know that this happens and i wish that al jazeera would broudcast any of these stories.

I read your article and the comments with interest.

Iraqi's have not been the only refugees who have sought out another nation in troubling times. My own family originated from a country with far greater political turmoil than what your article speaks of and back in the 1960's there was certainly no help for many visible minorities.

It is obvious that the Muslims within Iraqi cannot seem to co-exist with each other. This is evident in every news cast I see every morning and I read it in the history of the region. If Canada were to let so many Iraqi muslims into this country then we would only open ourselves to the violence that we see happening in Britain and the United States. I find your article appealing to the emotional side fo the issue not what will happen in reality. Reality, is what is currently happening in the world and we all see the violence nightly and historically this is not the first time the world has witnessed muslims attacking each other, most notable Black September. Was it not just last year that a group of young muslim Canadians were found to be planning the bombing of the TTC.

Your article is not journalism. It is more akin to some fantasy novel for the gullable.

This is exactly how the USA conquers and divides.They couldn't care less about the locales. They just have to keep that big war machine moving from place to place...Who's next, Iran?

Mustapha's story is quite revealing. Here is a young man, keen to complete his education and eager to live a productive "normal" life. He is one of many Iraqis who have lost almost everything since the 2003 US invasion. Rather than prosper in the post-Saddam Iraq, Iraqis like Mustapha have paid a terrible price. I think Canada and other Western nations have let Iraqi refugees down by accepting such paltry numbers.

However, most damning of all was the complete lack of responsability shown by the US and its allies in the 'coalition of the willing' who made a hash of things when they took over Iraq to begin with. Not to mention the fraud and theft of Iraqi assets during Bremer's tenure as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

The real casualties of this mess are people like Mustapha who ask for very little, but can offer so much in return. I am glad Nahlah Ayed told his story.

Thank you for this moving story. As an Iraqi Canadian, I feel so hopeless sometimes when I hear, read and listen to these kind of sad true stories. Do you have any suggestions on how to help these Iraqi Refugees?

Dear Ms. Ayed, Has The Arab media picked up on this story? Has Al Jazeera broadcasted it all around the Arab world and beyond?

Somehow, I doubt it! Arabs acting most discracefully to their fellow Arabs never seems to be a news worthy item in the Arab world.

It's only when the West mistreats Arabs that the story is told in the Arab world and beyond.

This is why Arabs can treat their fellow Arabs so very, very badly: Because they can get away with it. Because there is no outrage in the Arab world. Because there is this hypocritical silence!

How utterly shameful!

Imagine the uproar in the Arab world if a bunch of Canadians or people of other Western countries were in Syria right now, taking advantage of Iraqi refugees by scamming them for all their life's worth! Just imagine the outrage on the streets of every Arab country!

Perhaps, Ms Ayed, you could try and submit this article to some Arab newspapers, TV stations, and even to Al Jazeera itself!

At least you could try, eh!

It would be very interesting to see what happens.

By the way, where the heck are the Syrian authorities? Why have they left it up to the UN to stop Syrian criminals in Syria from hurting their fellow Arab Iraqis?